Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
River wavered.
Unsure.
And God, I hated that I was in this position. It sucked that the two of them were arguing about where I should stay like I didn’t have a voice in it. But I didn’t want to do something reckless and go off on my own, either, just for the sake of standing my own ground.
Obviously, it wasn’t the best time.
And the truth was…I didn’t want to leave.
“Agree with Otto,” Theo said. “You get Raven back to your place, and you’re going to be so spun up that you’re not going to be able to sleep, and we know how things go down with you when you get inside your head.”
“And I sleep light.” It was a warning from Otto’s tongue. An oath that he’d stand guard.
A shiver rolled through me, and I thought that maybe Otto scented it.
Could feel it.
Because those eyes dimmed to a deep, toiling blue.
River exhaled in discontent, though I could tell that he was giving in. “Know she’s in no better hands than with you,” he told Otto. “But are you sure you want to take this on?”
Otto looked at me.
Energy thrashed.
Alive in the space that separated us.
“Never have been so sure about anything. You know what she means to me. The lengths I’ll go.”
A tiny punch of air escaped my parted lips. A frisson of need curling out from my lungs.
I swore, I could still feel the marks of his big fingers pushing in between my thighs. Could still feel his thick, massive cock gliding through my hands.
A hard sound rolled out of Otto.
Was he envisioning it too? Did he want more? Would he give it to me?
My body burned with how badly I wanted it.
Thank God that my brother wasn’t a mind reader and had probably chalked my reaction up to me finding out that some deranged lunatic was after me rather than actually seeing the salacious direction my brain had gone.
If he could, I was pretty sure Otto would be suffering a whole lot more than a superficial gunshot wound.
Pain coated River’s expression when he looked in my direction. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?”
“Of course,” I told him.
He guided me around to the far side of an old Ford truck, his voice quieted as he turned around to face me. “Did something happen that you don’t want to tell everyone else about? Don’t want to push you, Raven, but I need somethin’ to go on if I’m going to be able to hunt this asshole down.”
I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “I truly don’t.”
Coming to Moonlit Ridge had been a new lease on life. A new beginning. Starting over from the traumas and the horrors of that lifestyle.
River and the rest of the guys had done their best to keep me out of it.
Hiding me away like they could shield me from the realities of who they were.
They should have known that was impossible.
That lifestyle would always trickle down and infiltrate.
Haddie’s face flashed through my mind. Grief slashing and slaying.
I looked at Otto, my guts fisting in the sorrow. I thought I might be able to hear the ghosts from that time howl in the vacant space.
If only I could have done something sooner.
But I’d done the one thing I could. The one thing I would never regret even though I’d kept it secreted behind a veil of shock and shame.
He was here—alive and whole.
It was all that mattered now.
River must have taken the sorrow in my expression for fear because he reached out and tapped my chin with his thumb. He’d always done it whenever I was in distress. Whenever he wanted to reach me. Whenever he wanted to let me know I wasn’t alone and he would never leave me.
I adored him for it.
“We’re going to take care of this, Raven. I promise you, all of us are right here, and we won’t let anything happen to you.”
He looked over to the rest of the guys who had their heads together, clearly trying to come up with a plan from across the garage. His attention dipped back to me. “Is this where you want to stay? I support you, whatever you want.”
“I think staying here is for the best.” I probably said it a little too fast.
His nod was tight. “Okay. Just…be careful, and don’t do anything reckless. Know you want to do your own thing, but it’s not safe for you to be off by yourself right now. Just until we get this sorted, then you can find a place of your own. But for my sanity, let’s put that on hold right now, yeah?”
“I can do that.”
I could try to tell myself that it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that this was where Otto was, but it would be a lie.